Crown Financial Statements Six Months To December 2003

Overview . Six Months To December 2003

The financial statements for the six months ended 31 December 2003 are compared against forecasts based on the 2003 December Economic and Fiscal Update (2003 DEFU).

The operating balance was $3,916 million, which was higher-than-forecast by $515 million. The key drivers of the forecast variance were:

- Core Crown investment income which was higher-than-forecast by $110 million mainly due to better than forecast Government Superannuation Fund investment returns.

- Core Crown expenses being around $160 million lower than forecast, mainly due to timing delays in official development assistance and other functional classifications including Health, Education and Economic & Industrial.

- SOE and Crown entity surpluses were $250 million higher than forecast due to higher sales of goods, foreign exchange gains and investment income.

The OBERAC was $3,723 million. The difference between the OBERAC and the operating balance is largely due to investment asset movements ($193 million).

Gross sovereign-issued debt (GSID) was $39.3 billion (30% of GDP), which was $158 million higher than forecast due largely to classification of certain debt instruments (net debt neutral).

Total Crown debt was $39.6 billion, which was lower-than-forecast by $386 million due to higher than forecast internal holdings of Government Stock by the Government Superannuation Fund and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.

Net (core) Crown debt was $18.4 billion, which was $55 million lower than forecast reflecting delays in investment activity being primarily injections to Crown entities.

Net cash flow from core operating and investing activity (cash equivalent of OBERAC less capital purchases) was $1.2 billion, which was lower-than-forecast by $260 million due to the reasons outlined for net debt and delays in refinancing private sector debt of District Health Boards.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

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